Milton McDonough Jr.

Milton Harold McDonough Jr. passed away from natural causes on November 23, 2025.  He was born in 1935, so he had recently celebrated his 90th birthday. A memorial service will be held at the Payette Church of Christ on Saturday, December 6th, at 11:00am.

Milt was the third child of six born to Milton Sr. and Pauline McDonough in Ontario, Oregon.

Music was his first love.  He played the sousaphone in the Weiser HS marching band and concert bands. Milt also joined his sisters, Mildred and Shirley, singing for many years at local funerals and events. 

Milt met his first wife, Doris Jacks, while working at Frank Downey’s out on Crane Creek. They were married in 1955 and had four children. They ran a 40-cow dairy on the Weiser flat.  In those days the milking had to be done by hand.

Milt and Doris sold the dairy in the mid 60’s and he took his first construction job working 600’ in the air on the Hells Canyon Dam.  He talked about that experience for the rest of his life.

Milt’s next construction job was building the set for the movie, Paint Your Wagon, starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, in Baker, Oregon.

After that construction was his life.  He was the foreman on many construction jobs: the set for the TV show Hotel; some of the first buildings in Incline Village, Nevada; the California State Pen; the Water Treatment Plant in Squaw Valley, CA; and many other projects in San Jose, Reno, and Susanville, CA.

After retiring, Milt and his current wife, Pat, moved from Sparks, NV to her childhood community of Prairie Farm, Wisconsin, and purchased an 80-acre farm.  Milt raised registered Hereford cattle which he was very proud of.  He loved ranching very much.

After Pat passed away, in 2013, Milt moved back to Payette, Idaho to be near his sisters, Mildred Horton and Shirley Qualls.

There, Milt married Rocklin Middleton in February of 2016. They were very happy together until Rocky passed away in March of 2023.

Milt then moved to Brookdale Assisted Living in Ontario for a year, and lived the past year at Sunset Estates in Ontario.

Milt is survived by two sisters, Mildred Horton and Judy Beeks, and two brothers Bill and Marie-Claire McDonough, and John McDonough.  His four children: Luane Page of Cambridge, Ramona (John) Rogers of Caldwell, Diana Kaus of Payette, and Russell (Linda) McDonough of Winlock, Washington. Also, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and much-loved nieces and nephews.

Milt was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Shirley Qualls.

The family would like to thank Mildred Horton (sister) and Joe Qualls (nephew) for visiting him often, and both Brookdale and Sunset for taking such great care of him the past two years.

Online condolences can be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com